EGYPT CAUTIOUS ABOUT DELETING TERRORIST’S NAME FROM STREET.
PARIS 27May (IPS) As the Tehran City Council was waiting for word from Foreign Ministry on a proposal to change delete the name of Khaled Eslambouli, the assassin of the late Egyptian President Anwar el Sadat from a Tehran’s street, sources in Cairo said Egypt may not agree to fully normalise with the Islamic Republic because of name change.
On orders from Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran cut relations with Egypt after Mr. Sadat officially recognised Israel in 1979 and named one of the Capital’s streets after the Islamist terrorist who shot Sadat in 1981.
Another reason that irked the new Iranian Islam-based revolutionary theocracy was the fact that President Sadat had allowed the deposed and cancer afflicted Shah Mohammad Reza of Iran to take refuge in Cairo, where he died and is buried.
Members of the Tehran City Council were said to have agreed to a proposal to change the name of the street from "Khaled Eslambouli" to either "Intifada" (popular Palestinian uprising) Martyrs' or "Mohammad ad-Durra", after the young Palestinian who was shot dead by the Israeli troops while huddling beside his father for shelter from bullets.
"The council will agree to rename the street if asked by the Foreign Ministry which will certainly include views of the supreme leader and the President on the decision, Mr. Mohammad Atrianfar, the Council’s Chairman said.
The Islamic Republic of Iran, he said, has put the issue of resuming cultural and people-to-people and "eventually political" relations with Egypt at the top of its agenda, he said.
"Egypt would not be able to accept the restoration of ties with Islambouli's name on the Tehran Street", Mohamed Sayyed Ahmed, a writer at the state-owned al-Ahram daily, told Reuters.
Egypt may not agree to restore full ties with Iran even if it renames a Tehran Street honouring the assassin of President Anwar Sadat, other analysts said, adding that changing the name does not mean that ties will immediately be restored.
According to Atrianfar, the urgent proposal for changing the name of the street which was approved by the council on Monday, would leave the door open for follow-up measures to be taken by the country's diplomatic apparatus.
Tehran Mayor, Morteza Alviri has welcomed the move, saying that the name of the street was one of the reasons behind Tehran-Cairo estrangement and that such names could "cause annoyance for the two countries".
Iranian-Egyptian ties have warmed slightly in recent years, but analysts said security concerns and regional alliances could still break any swift move towards normal relations.
"Egypt will, of course, welcome the change," said Islamist writer Fahmy Howeidy. "But the street name is only one of several complicated accounts to settle", he said, pointing out that Egypt had used the issue as a pretext to delay restoring ties with the Islamic Republic.
Tehran is still insisting that any full restoration of relations with Cairo is conditioned to Cairo’s cutting of all ties with the Jewish State.
However, Israel's harsh tactics against Palestinians waging an independence revolt may prove one factor drawing Egypt and Iran together, analysts said.
Analysts said Egyptian security agencies might have their own reservations over improving relations with Iran, which they might still view as a dangerous source of Islamic militancy.
Egyptian policymakers must also consider the impact of any fence mending with Iran on allies such as the United States and the United Arab Emirates, both at odds with Tehran.
Washington maintains harsh trade sanctions against the Islamic Republic that it accuses of seeking arms of mass destruction and supporting terrorist organisations and opposing the peace in the Middle East
The UAE and Iran have been locked in a long-standing dispute over three strategic islands in the Persian Gulf that each claims their ownership.
"Sharon represents an element that encourages the opposing parties to come closer", said Ahmed.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said in Cairo earlier this year that Israel's "repressive policies" towards the Palestinians were driving Iran and Egypt closer.
But the London-based Arab daily "Al-Sharq al-Awsat" quoted a high-ranking Egyptian official in Cairo as saying that the move by the reformists-controlled Tehran City Council was ''a positive step" towards further improvement of Egyptian-Iranian ties that will serve the interests of both countries.
"This move will convince the public opinion in Egypt about the Iranian government's desire to strengthen ties with Egypt and to open a new page in relations between the two countries", the official said, asking not be named.
Tehran-Cairo ties have significantly warmed since June of last year when President Mohammad Khatami spoke over phone with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak, the first such conversation by the presidents of the two countries.
Relations have since improved, and the two countries now run interest sections through the Swiss embassies in Cairo and Tehran, operated by Iranian and Egyptian diplomats. ENDS EGYPT IRAN STREET 27501